Afghan Firni is an authentic sweet dessert recipe for almond pudding with cardamom. This Middle Eastern dessert recipe is very easy, vegan and gluten-free. The flavor of cardamom is dominating this creamy almond custard.
As we all know, a proper dinner does includes three courses: Starter, Main Course and Dessert. And as much as I love to eat as much as possible, there are days where I just don’t feel like three courses, but only two. And in this case, the winner of this “Which course is gonna make it-battle” is crystal clear: Dessert… and probably a main dish. I just love to finish my dinner with a sweet something. Otherwise I don’t feel satisfied and there are evenings when I can’t really go to bed without having something sweet.
So when I was cooking Afghan Kabuli last week, I obviously had to complement this rice dish with an appropriate dessert.
Thinking about a nice dessert to complement my Afghan Kabuli dish, I came across Firni. Firni is a pudding with almonds and cardamom. One spoon of it and you feel like traveling to the Middle East. The flavor of cardamom is so delicious and combined with the creamy pudding texture and crunchy almonds pieces it’s a true delight. I also added some cinnamon, wich I really like within this combination.
How to cook Firni
Cooking Firni is super easy and quick!
Just heat up some milk, stir in the spices and sugar and add dissolved starch. When it starts thickening, add almonds and ready is your Firni. If you like, you can top your pudding with some almonds or pistachios to make it more pretty.
Usually, this Afghan pudding is eaten cold, but who cares about old practices – Â I also enjoy Firni when it’s still warm!
For the milk, I used my homemade oat milk, but I also cooked it with soy milk and it went well.
Ingredients
- 2 cups plant-based milk (I used oat milk or almonds milk)
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 100g almonds (minced)
Instructions
- In a little cup, mix starch with some of the milk until starch dissolved.
- In a saucepan, heat up the milk.
- Add cardamom, cinnamon, brown sugar and stir.
- When milk starts to cook, add starch mixture and bring the pudding to boil for some seconds, then lower the heat. Keep stirring until the pudding starts to thicken.
- Now add the almonds and stir.
- Fill pudding in 4 glasses/bowls and let it cool down.
- Enjoy 🙂
If you like Middle Eastern cuisine, here are some more recipes you might be interested in:
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